in which Fabia fell and accidentally found a girlfriend
by Nhuy
Summary: [Aladin!AU] Fabia fell down a cavern on an island in the middle of nowhere. She wanted a way out, but instead found a genie (and future girlfriend). Or: Fabia Sheen's exciting adventure with a hot genie to rescue her country. More at 6.


So I procrastinated and wrote up this beast of a fic in... idk... a week? two weeks? Blame japanese class for messing me up.

No beta we die like women ladies and gentlements.

Also: this is f/f, if the pairing hasn't clued you in yet.

* * *

Fabia certainly heard rumors about this place—a small island far off the coast, only reachable by ships and filled up to the brim with dirt and sand. Months ago, she'd had a mind to go there and see for herself why such an unremarkable place kicked up so much of a fuss that even the Emperor of Gundalia had to send people there, but then she couldn't because Neathia was in the middle of a war with that same damn Emperor and she was swarmed with works and war planning.

The small consolation she had was news of the Gundalian investigators' demise during the journey to the island. Good for her country, she supposed, since who knew what kind of heavy discoveries were on that island.

Then the war picked up on its intensity with Emperor Barodius throwing soldiers left and right without a single thought to the lost lives. She became the commander of Neathia's war efforts against Gundalia—with her sister maintaining the country's economy—and had been moving between war zones for months on end. Especially, for the last three-or-more months Fabia hadn't been able to see her only sister's face, she was neck-deep in the blow-to-blow clashes between the two armies and she didn't even have a shower for two weeks now. Naturally, Fabia had been pissed, tense, dirty and all kind of negative adjectives.

At least she could channel her frustration into cold anger against those Gundalian bastards.

But three days ago, her camp was _almost_ ambushed.

She only narrowly escaped capture in the burning camp, all the while shouting orders for her soldiers to spread out to secondary camps strewing across the desert. Her brave Neathian brothers and sisters, their discipline unmatched by Gundalian foot soldiers, took her orders and efficiently threw distractions for unprepared ones to get into gear. Fabia thought the ambush was too light, with only stealth-trained Gundalian soldiers burning the primary camp and trying to capture the princess; but against such fast reaction time from her army, the attempt quickly failed.

Not for long, Fabia knew that.

The Gundalian'd had had a raiding party on standby, in case of failure. The raiders would swoop in and take potshots at anyone in their range while herding them into pre-prepared traps alongside the border. A sound plan, as long as they could slip a rat—the kind that leaked information and sold out comrades—into the Neathian army in the first place. Well, she'd crack down on that rat after regrouping with her army.

And if Fabia was to be honest with herself, she'd definitely pull something like this had she not been so reviled by cheap tactics. But then, _all is fair in love and war, _and Neathia would lose as long as she refused to entertain the thought of dirty tricks.

She couldn't let her country be a subject to Barodius' madness.

However, she needed to survive first against the raiders chasing after her. All planning could wait until then.

Three days later, after a sand-filled desert chase, a deliberately triggered explosion followed by some jungle stomping and sleeping on trees, Fabia was smack dab in the middle of nowhere on a stolen Gundalian chaser and heading towards the mysterious island to which the journey had killed a bunch of fully-trained Gundalian scouts. Fantastic, really.

She chanced a glance behind her, seeing four high-speed chasers with guns aiming at her head and ready to fire. Her instinct screamed at her to duck, Fabia complied and an energy bullet flew harmlessly through the space her head just occupied mere seconds beforehand. The princess knew they wouldn't risk getting close to her now, after one chaser got too close yesterday and she jumped overboard, killing the three raiders with their own weapons and blew the heads of another chaser's raiders off with the grace of a dancer. They knew now of the danger she posed, and the raiders switched to long-range weapons to try to nail her from afar.

'_Well,' _Fabia mused, '_they are at least competent enough to give me some trouble.'_

Her left side, as if knowing she was thinking about it, started to ache and bleed sluggishly. The wound had been aggravated since the jungle chase when she got shot by a lucky raider. With no time to waste, Fabia only gave it the most basic of basic first aid—enough to stop the bleeding, but the burning pain she had to put up with. It couldn't be helped, with her circumstance as dire as it was.

'My body really betrayed me during critical moments like these, hm?'

With the mysterious island looming before her, the princess bit her lips and floored the gas towards the shore. She ducked down, grabbed the pulse gun with steady hands despite the blood loss and aimed at the head of a raider on the chaser closest to her own. Her fingers pulling the trigger, Fabia allowed herself no time to rest before lining up with her next target in one smooth motion, pulled the trigger once more.

Fabia knew she would have to take out at least two chaser vessels, and also have enough energy remain in the gun for the inevitable clash on the island. She had to take them out quickly, in her best-case scenario, then reached the island safely before thinking up ways of contacting Serena. The worst-case scenario, however, involved the princess roughing it up with twelve raiders—nay, nine raiders now—on a terrain full of sand dunes and low-rising mountains. A confrontation in the open like that would certainly kill her in her wounded condition.

Fabia definitely didn't like her odds of getting out alive, but as long as there was hope she'd continue to fight; if she was to die today, the warrior princess much preferred going down fighting, _thank you very much_.

After missing her third shot in a row, Fabia lowered the gun and started counting the energy bullets left. Twenty. Against nine raiders, twenty bullets for someone of her caliber were a lot; but against nine raiders with twenty bullets in the middle of a desert with limited options for cover, wounded and exhausted like her now would be a literal death wish.

_Well, _her mind muttered, _the island approached._

Indeed, that mysterious island which had sparked her curiosity so many months ago was now in front of her. Even seeing the dried-out terrain from afar was enough to get the young commander groaning of dread. But, it was either a small chance of victory on that island or being gunned down like a dog. She just wished that her maybe-grave was a little bit lusher, since a little green never hurt anyone.

"No time to waste. It's do or die now." Fabia breathed out, trying to calm down while willing her wound to stop bleeding _just for a damn little bit. _"Let's survive this and kick Barodius in his smug face!"

Her chaser slowed, signaling its near collision with the sandy shore. Fabia steeled herself one last time before taking her gun and the remote detonation, jumping right over the ledge and zigzagging deeper into the island.

She looked back at the approaching enemy chasers, estimating their distance to her vessel before pressing the countdown button. She gave them ten seconds to go near the shore, two seconds for immediate jumping overboard; she estimated for twelve seconds until the vessel explode.

Her legs were sore and heavy, her headache was at full force, her mind struggled between clarity and sluggish tiredness. But the princess held on, running past her limits to get into something resembling distance between her and her enemies, just for that little hope of survival and kicking Barodius in the ass. A little bit selfish and petty, but _hey, _Fabia Sheen was running on fume right now and she would take any kind of motivation available to her.

_7_

.

The sounds of engines and shouting men were getting closer.

.

_6_

.

Fabia could feel a leg muscle being pulled; _she couldn't stop now._

.

_5_

.

Her hand gripped the gun tighter, to the point of pain.

.

_4_

.

The princess's hair tie broke. Her hair was getting in her eyes now.

.

_3_

.

Sounds of splashing. _They are near._

_2_

.

Her blood sang and bled. Her sweat dripped and pooled. _There were no tears, and there will never be tears._

.

_1_

.

She will survive.

.

_0_

_._

Screams and curses greeted her ears, sounds of blood splattered on sand were good news to her. That meant some raiders got caught in the explosion.

_That meant her chance of surviving this ordeal had increased._

She dared a glance towards the Gundalian. Only seven—no, it was six raiders chasing after her now. She let a small grin curl up her lips.

The commander could survive this.

_She would survive this._

The island's highest point loomed before her, surrounded by sand and battered by wind. It'd be harsh on her, but it would also be harsh with her enemies.

_Let the chase begin._

* * *

_An accomplishment,_ that was what Fabia would normally call it.

But during this moment, she only felt the urge to laugh heartily and fully, without restraint. _But who can blame her?_

She _survived._ Against six chaser vessels, eighteen raiders with a bullet wound in her side, Fabia Sheen _survived._

Against an almost impossible odd, she pulled through and did something only the most well-trained combatants could dream of: fighting and winning against a full fleet of raiders singlehanded.

"Pfft—"

She couldn't stop laughing. She laughed so hard tears started to run down her face.

_It's okay, for these are tears of life and happiness._

She laughed out loud again. Luckily this was an island in the middle of nowhere, with only her and nine cooling corpses as signs of human activity. Her soldiers would laugh and joke amongst themselves silly if they could saw her now.

_Oh god the laugh is gonna come out again—_

"—ahahaha—"

Did she go insane? Maybe blowing too many brains out left her a bit _brainless_ in the process?

'_Annnnd, here comes the laugh,' _her mind tried to chastise. _'Bad pun, Fabia Sheen. At least make it classy.'_

Fabia's attempt to stifle her giggles—high and elated after her unimaginable victory—failed at the lame pun. She started to sob between bouts of giggles, unable to stop and too tired to even think of stopping.

It was a mix of determination and fear that drove her forward against the raiders during the entirety of the chase, her mind and body only focused on one single purpose: to survive. In the end, to live while her pursuers laid dead brought down on her the full weight of her fears without the determination to keep it at bay.

Simply put, _Fabia Sheen was terrified of death_. It hit her now, after the rush of battle had passed, that she was so near Death's doorstep and never fell to the other side just because she was both lucky and skilled. More lucky than skilled, even.

The warrior princess knew she need to let it all out in order to cool her head and planning her next move. Her wounds needed immediate attention, she was thirsty and hungry, her body ached everywhere—Fabia had to recover, and _recover fast_; the Emperor would send people after her if the raiders didn't return.

They certainly wouldn't return now.

Taking a deep calming breath, Fabia stood up slowly, mindful of her reopened wound and abused legs and steadily made her way down the mountainside. Her hands were still tightly clutching the gun _(only two bullets remained)_, the commander twitched the fingers on her left hand before gingerly uncurled them from the barrel. Her right hand still curled, but laxer than mere moments before, and she brought her free hand up to slick back her hair. In her opinion, her hair became _too dirty, too long_. She would think of a haircut later.

Her free hand grabbed onto an out-jutted rock, her legs as steady as she could will it to, the princess put the gun into her belt holster then grabbed onto a lower rock ledge with her right hand, wincing at the slight pull on her wound. She would have to hurry, else she'd die of blood loss.

"And that'll be a _lame_ death," Fabia muttered sarcastically, sweating profusely from hours of strenuous activities. "Surviving a bunch of raiders then to die from blood loss—that's just sad. Especially for me."

She breathed out, worried for her own predicament and her lack of communication—but that could be fixed with some tinkling with the Gundalian chaser's onboard communicator. What worse was the island's lack of proper shelter; with the way this island's terrain formed, Fabia wouldn't be surprised when night came and froze her to death. And, _oh wow,_ there were a bunch of ways for her to die on this damn island, wasn't it?

Well, she'd pull through, somehow.

* * *

Fabia could kiss the ground she was standing on right now, after the climb down full of sweat, blood and tears. Her wound was bleeding sluggishly, surprisingly slow for such a long trip down, but the commander learned not to look for a gift horse in the mouth; all she should take from a situation like this was her luck on not passing out yet.

_Wait,_ her mind signed,_ spoke too soon._

A headache was building up, quickly. She could feel its pounding urgency and her eyes blurred, the evening sky looked like a mesh of kaleidoscopic colors to her overworked brain right now. Fabia staggered, her legs suddenly unsteady—and she flopped down on the hot-but-cooling sand, the exhaustion finally caught up with her. Her body felt like lead, weighing her normally sharp mind down; well, she'd been running nonstop for three days with no time for convalescence in between, she had it coming, really.

But, she couldn't rest in the open like this. Wound infection and hypothermia? _Hell no. _Not to mention animals, and desert animals were known for their incredibly potent venom.

Now that she mentioned it, since this morning she hadn't seen any animal on this island. At the least she should had seen some scorpion crawling around, but no living creature—big or small—in sight.

A blast of rough wind pushed sand right up to her face. Fabia spat out, attempting to sit up with her elbows. Her eyes watered, her nose had that funny feeling of near-sneeze and the princess cursed her circumstance once again.

'_I have to go on_,' she gritted her teeth. '_To see Serena again, to stop this war and to kick that asshole in the face!'_

With a vicious jerk, the High Princess of Neathia sat up, mindless of the running sweat on her face and the slowly pooling blood beneath her body. She stood, running on pure determination and pettiness, and took a step forward.

Then promptly fell down in a heap onto the sand.

'_I… have to…' _her hands, limp and bruised, tried to force themselves up. _'I…'_

Her face scrunched up from the constant abuse of the desert, eyelids dropping and lips bitten from nervousness.

'_I…'_

Fabia blacked out.

.

In her _(maybe)_ dream, she thought the desert was swallowing her whole, but there was no sand in her mouth, her eyes or her ears. The princess thought of it as only a weird dream.

In her _(maybe) not-_dream, she fell down a long distance. But there was no sensation of her brain being splattered, nor her bones breaking into thousand pieces; she felt something soft catching her, lower her down. The princess thought nothing of it, nothing more than the work of an overworked brain.

But, _but, _Fabia knew she touched something cold and round and smooth. It was near her hands, and she, in her delirium, reached for it. Her fingers definitely smoothed over the cold metal surface with the weak caress of a dying woman. She felt the metal sang and hymned beneath her touch.

But the brave princess dismissed it as nothing more than weird conjurations of the mind.

Then—

Smoke filled her mind, a warm hand holding onto her battered ones. A dulcet voice told her to _sleep, I will watch over you, brave princess._

And she did.

* * *

Fabia jerked awake, her mind instantly kicked into fight-or-flight mode and she rapidly blinked, finding herself in some kind of cave. She curled her arms, bracing herself ready to sit up, her mind already wincing at the thought. But—

'_I… am not sore?' _Her forehead scrunched up at the thought, _'but, after all those chasing and the lying down… what?'_

She sat up on her _healed, unbruised _arms and finally took a good look around.

'_How?'_

She was in a massive cavern, its ceiling so high the princess couldn't even see it properly. The cavern was spacious with a slight wind blowing, no hotter nor colder than the harsh desert _above? outside?_ _who knows? _And glowing with some weird greenish light.

And treasures. _Lots of treasures._

Gold and diamond jewelry was everywhere, piling up in literal mountains of gold; Fabia saw a golden necklace with a pendant which had an emerald bigger than the biggest diamond in the world on her left side, twinning alongside the necklace was an absolute lavish box enameled with gemstones from top to bottom. On her right side were some kind of golden armor with red inkling, a pair of golden gloves with a—_guess what_?—golden chain in their clasp. A bit farther from her seated position were a _honest-to-God _golden sword with a literal _made-from-diamond _handguard.

"…"

To be honest, anyone in her position would also be speechless in front of this massive display of wealth. Even the High Princess of Neathia—Fabia Sheen herself was near blind from looking at those glowing treasures. Either the person behind this was incredibly rich _(almost richer than a country) _or a damn pirate captain; and Fabia knew the latter option was almost guaranteed to be true.

After all, if there was really such a rich person who wasn't an illegal sea robber then Emperor Barodius would already had his grubby hands on them already.

_Oh wait, he did send scouts here_, Fabia did a mental facepalm. _The amount of riches here would be enough to fund the war for years on end._

Letting out a despondent sigh, Fabia turned around to seek for an escape route. Then she promptly fell over and nearly had a heart attack.

For sitting right behind her was probably the most beautiful woman the princess ever saw in all of twenty-one years of her life.

Long curling hair with a mix of color echoes from the cavern framed a heart-shaped face, an unruly cowlick poked up on that mane of magnificent hair and something resembling a circlet was on the woman's forehead. Big eyes with long red lashes highlighted its deep chocolate color, and—_is it her or those eyes are slitted?_—straight nose, pink curling lips that _were smiling softly at her oh my god_—

"Seems like you are awake. I thought you were going to be unconscious for a while longer."

'_Oh hell I'm gay,' _Fabia groaned inwardly, still reeling from the almost heart attack. Her mind rapidly nodded along with the sentiment. The woman's voice was both soothing and startling to her, jerking the young commander out of her gay funk and back to the current situation.

Namely, a strangely-dressed and otherworldly-pretty woman was sitting behind her and probably had been watching her sleep for who-knew-how-long. Fabia had questions, _lots of questions_—like, 'who the hell are you', 'where did you come from', 'what's with the weird clothing', and, of course, 'did you bring me here and watch me sleep you creep'—but what came out of her mouth was:

"Were all of these treasures yours?"

With no hesitation, the strange woman smiled, "Yes."

"…"

Fabia could feel her facial muscle pulling into an increasingly incredulous look. She squeezed her eyes shut, opened them, then rubbed her hands against them for good measure—just to make sure she didn't hallucinate up the vast amount of wealth in the cavern and the assured expression on the woman's face—before squeaking out, "All of these?!"

(The princess staunchly refused to acknowledge the fact that her voice raised a few octaves there nor the abrupt and rapid movements her hands made. The widened eyes and opened mouth were embarrassing enough as they were, no need to add more salt into her wounded dignity.)

"Yes. Um—" The pretty woman paused mid-sentence, her deep eyes roving up and down Fabia's half-slouch-half-crouch body, lingered where her bullet wound was—_wait, it didn't hurt anymore!_

The princess pressed a hand onto her left side, right over the _supposed _burn that signified the energy bullet's entry, and found nothing but smooth flesh. Smooth, _unmarked, _flesh.

_Smooth, unmarked and not-hurting flesh._

"What."

By this point Fabia just had had enough, her incredulity could only be tested so much per day; surviving a full band of raiders then getting dropped down to a cavern filled to the brim with treasures, then meeting a strangely dressed (and pretty) woman who _owned_ the entirety of this cavern's content then finding out her wounds were miraculously healed despite the fact that no kind of technology could bring about such perfect, _unblemished, _result? She knew her face just about reflected her current stance on these impossible matters.

The beautiful stranger met her gaze then floundered, her eyes stopped assessing Fabia's poor state and instead looked everywhere but her, those pale elegant hands wringing together and pink lips pursing. Then those _impossibly slitted _eyes abruptly turned to the undignified princess and stared straight right into hers. That mellow, dulcetly tone rang out again:

"I took the liberty of healing you. I—um, you were badly wounded and I couldn't just leave you like that," that heartbreakingly beautiful face looked at her with such unmasked honesty, so much that Fabia found her _completely justified _anger and incredulity withered away in front of it. "I'm sorry, for touching you without your permission like that."

Just like that, Fabia's proverbial feathers were soothed and smoothed down, like a cat curling into itself after a satisfying backrub. _Or maybe we are just weak for pretty people with hard-hitting puppy dog eyes, _her mind snickered.

Well, her brain wasn't wrong, per se.

Putting those _gay debates_ aside for one moment, the not-so-undignified princess brought her attention to one crucial thing the woman said. Namely, the whole 'I healed you up to full health' and stuff like that. This woman must had been joking right? For even the most advanced tech Neathia and Gundalia had couldn't even heal energy burns without leaving scars, much less make it smooth and unblemished and _not leaving the infamous phantom pain._ Did this person stay so long among gold and diamond to the point of losing touch with the real world?

"Did I hear you right? You said you healed me?" Straight-forward, Fabia figured, was the best way to get an answer in an army system. You asked and they answered, no long-winded speech, no snide remark, no beating around the bush. Just straight-forwardness. The commander belatedly hoped the woman wasn't the type to give long-and-unrelated answer because she didn't think she had the strength to sit through it, even if it was a pretty lady delivered that kind of answer.

Damningly, the woman stared straight at her eyes again, face devoid of any dishonesty and answered, "Yes."

_Oh my—either the woman's insane or I'm the one insane here, _her mind concluded, fed up with the day's event. _Or maybe we both are insane now._

The young commander wouldn't put it past herself to go insane after three adrenaline-full days. Or she knocked her head somewhere after falling down this weird place? Who knew?

The outlandishly garbed woman continued, "You were dying—either from the blood loss or hypothermia, I didn't know—but the island chose you, it allowed you here and you called for me. I couldn't let my contractor die like that; I have my duty to fulfill."

A pregnant pause followed that _completely illogical _answer.

"..."

"Um, are you okay? Did you feel pain anywhere?" The woman came closer, her red eyebrows furrowed in concern and her hands reached up to lightly touch Fabia's face, "I could heal you again—if you want to, of course. A contractor of sound mind is better during the wish-granting process, after all."

_What? The island chose what? Who called for who? What duty was this woman going on about? Contractor and wish-granting process?_

_What?_

"What." Fabia deadpanned.

The damn woman had the gall to blink _innocently _at her back. Then those eyebrows furrowed again, her head tilting left and right as if to reconsider the princess when a sudden light of realization dawned in her eyes. She backed off a few paces from the extremely skeptical commander in front of her then turned her full attention onto Fabia's clothing, eyes rapidly assessing with an intense kind of focus—the kind of focus only army leaders and politicians had. That calculating-and-searching-for-apparent weakness look Fabia saw so many times was in her eyes, making her hackles rise unpleasantly. In this moment High Princess Fabia knew, she was dealing with a very intelligent and possibly dangerous individual who may or may not be an enemy.

_And who may or may not be insane,_ her brain helpfully pointed out. _You heard her—full healing, sentient island, wish-granting process, those are wild and impossible things—if it was true, then we'd not lose so many of our breadthens to the war. Or maybe we'd lose more._

But, Fabia realized, an intelligent but insane person was ten times worse than a regular insane or smart person; that kind of people was often unpredictable and uncontrollable, just like the current Gundalian Emperor. Maybe not intelligent in that bastard's case, and more along the line of off-the-rails-cruelty and aggression.

Right now, however, Fabia had a potentially unpredictable and dangerous stranger in front of her, who was still assessing her attire. The princess was confident she could take that woman out in melee combat, since those arms looked like they barely lift anything heavier than a stack of books in their entire existence. She would have to be fast—a hard punch to the face should do it—then run and find the exit, then get back to one of the Gundalian chasers to attempt to contact Serena.

She could do it, she just had to be fast. That's all. _Better be safe than sorry._

Mind made up, Fabia curled a fist and brought it up, throwing the _second _fastest punch she ever had in her life straight at that beautiful face. 'I'm sorry,' the would-be assaulter cringed. 'I hope I wouldn't mess up your face too badly.'

Then her fist was abruptly stopped mid-air, mid-throwing, mere centimeters from the stranger's straight nose. The young royal could feel the air around her fist twisting and holding it in place, despite seeing no visible restraints on it.

"Wha—"

"What year is it? Outside, I mean." The woman, heedless of the shaking fist a breath away from smacking into her face, stared unflinchingly once again into Fabia's surprised and horrified eyes. "Please answer me, my contractor."

"_How?! _Let me go this instance you maniac!"

The princess started to struggle against the invisible restraints locking her fist in place, scowling up a storm at the _human?_ in front of her.

'No human could accomplish something like this,' she chewed on her lips. 'No technology could do _something like this!'_

Fabia gritted her teeth, knowing that the longer she stayed here the bigger the chance of this woman taking revenge on the attempted assault. Once more, she balled up her other fist and threw it—this time she aimed at the solar plexus—in hope to take the wind out of the maniac long enough for her to escape.

Infuriatingly, and also panic-worthily, the second punch was stopped mere moments before impact. Fabia scowled heavily, now certain that the woman was definitely _not-right_ and dangerous.

Also, she was fucked now. Both hands restrained, her body half-crouched—even if she threw a kick now, who to say the _formless air restraints_ wouldn't just lock it up too? Then she would truly lose all of her mobility, and her hopes of getting back to her sister.

_Fantastic, really._

The dangerous stranger now looked at her with a hint of exasperation, but her face still set in that unflinching look. Her mouth opened, that dulcet tone asked her again:

"Please, answer me. What's the current year on the surface?"

Fabia pursed her lips, unwilling to answer now that her hands were restrained and her anger returned. But the damn woman still had that light of honesty in her eyes, and her face gave away true confusion regarding the whole time subject. It was either answering a seemingly innocuous query or having the woman torture her—despite the fact that the query was unrelated to any of her current problems and the woman looked far too kind to be the type that enjoyed torture—and Fabia reluctantly opened her mouth to answer.

After all, royalties knew better than anyone else how appearances could be deceiving. She wouldn't fight meaningless battles against an unknown foe, it wasn't worth it.

"675. What is it?"

"Oh."

The unknown danger had a look of realization on her face now. She closed her eyes, breathing out a long sigh before reopening them to glance at Fabia's attire one more time, as if to confirm a missing piece of a whole picture. The woman then reached up to lay her hands right over the fists in her personal space, touching and gently lowering them down.

"What are—"

"If you refrain from punching me, then I will explain everything to you. I promise."

Fabia stared, suspicious, "How can I take you at your words?"

"I'm not the one who threw the first punch, no?"

'Fair,' she inwardly grumbled. She _had _been the one to throw the punch, but that didn't change the fact that this woman could and _did_ restrain her in a mysterious way. 'I mean, formless air-chains? Impossible.'

But she still couldn't explain away how her hands stopped midair like that, how she struggled to free them yet they never budged an inch; more damningly was how she _felt _the sensation of air and wind wrapped around them, keeping the curled-up fists in place.

Fabia was, to put it bluntly, confused. _Badly _confused.

But at this point, she had no other choice. _And what's the harm in hearing out whatever kind of insane explanation the woman can dish out anyway?_

_It's not like she'll start spouting things like 'magic', right?_

* * *

Well. That was enlightening.

_Damn her and damn her tendencies of jinxing herself._

It wasn't like Fabia to curse at herself like that, but she knew better than to even entertain crazy ideas. And now, one of those crazy ideas just came true in the form of a _self-proclaimed _genie who just spent thirty minutes explaining _things _to her.

Things like, _oh I don't know,_ magic and wishes.

If she was still in Neathia, the princess would immediately check this _genie _into a mental institute; at the moment, however, she was on an island smack-dabbed in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no explanation for whatever the woman did to her. _Okay, and maybe we are a bit desperate_—_but who can blame us?_

Fabia agreed with her mind there. Who could blame her for buying _at least _a few of the crazy woman's lies?

Even if those lies were very elaborate and explained her situation perfectly.

Proofs. The princess needed _proofs. _If this _genie _couldn't adequately provide proofs then, well, _too bad _because Fabia was going to deck her in the face for attempting to deceive a member of the royal family.

(She conveniently put her prior _failed _attempt out of her mind. No need for second thoughts now.)

"I want proof," she blurted out, tired and desperate more than ever, her hands raised and gestured around. "Show me your magic, then we'll talk about this whole contract mess."

"Is that a wish for me? You only have three wishes, you know." _Was this person deliberately misunderstand her or something?_

"No, I want proofs of your _apparent _magical nature so that I can trust you. You are telling me to bare my deepest desires to you without providing some pieces of evidence of your _miracles_. Do you take me for a fool?"

"…"

Irritatingly enough, that woman still had that unflappable look on her face. '_Fine,' _the commander's eyelids twitched, _'let's pull out the bluffs.'_

"What? Can't provide evidence for your outrageous claims? I shouldn't have expected much from a run-of-the-mill swindler, really."

Fabia made to stand up and turn around, finding that her hands were free for quite some time now _(when did that happen?) _before heaving herself up and dusted off the clinging sand on her clothes.

"Seems like you are no more than a liar and a trickster. I'm leaving, you wasted my time enough." The princess hoped the woman would take her bait since she herself didn't know where the exit was; or at the very least the jabs should unsettle her enough. That unflinching expression was starting to get on her nerves.

The young royal took one step, then two, then steadily waddled her way across the treasure cavern, her face resolute and eyes straight forward. Outwardly, anyway.

Inwardly, however, Fabia was panicking up a storm over her possible future of aimlessly wandering around this probably closed-off place, with no food and water to sustain herself. She hoped her luck hold her through this time of need, at the least until she could find a running water source.

The princess made her way through the small gaps between mountains of treasures, avoiding some pommels sticking out here and a few intertwining necklaces there. The sound of her steel boot's sole stepping on rings and priceless artifacts made her cringe, her overactive imagination thinking up the estimated values of these pieces of jewelry. Despite being born in the lap of luxury, Fabia still got uncomfortable every time someone brought up the subject of wealth ever since her youth; now, with the war draining resources from both sides for years and all royal coffers opened to maintain a limit on country-wide poverty, she got even more discomfit regarding money and wealth. Every moment in this cavern reminded Fabia of her country's imminent economic collapse, and how every single treasures and jewelry here could save her people's lives.

'Maybe I can ask the crazy woman whether she can give me a little bit of these gold?' Man, she must had gone mad to even think of asking that person.

No, she wouldn't do it, Fabia had her pride as the High Princess of Neathia and as a soldier; besides, she did _bluff _and _walk away._ Coming back just to ask for a little gold is… _insulting._

With her back turned toward the target of her ire, Fabia woefully missed the softening of the stranger's face and the warm smile that appeared. As such, she was unprepared for her whole name being called out in that dulcet voice across the cavern, the echoes hitting her ears but barely phasing the princess in her shock.

"My honor contractor, Fabia Sheen, please stop and listen to me."

Fabia did stop alright, but she stopped to get her heart beating again. This island and its sole occupant were really bad for her health.

"What?!" She huffed angrily, knowing that a few years of her life just got deducted. "Want to prove your trustworthiness?"

"Yes. I have assessed that you are someone righteous for me to entrust my powers to. Allow me to show you my magic, honorable contractor." At this, the woman's warm smile picked up.

"You better hurry up then. I'm tired and cranky since this morning." Actually, she had been cranky in the last three days, but that was irrelevant to the current subject.

The woman looked at her with a knowing look in her twinkling eyes but held her tongue. She probably didn't want another disagreement with the resident bullheaded princess. Fabia was glad for the unspoken tactfulness, even if she wouldn't thank her for that.

"Then, let's us depart this island, my contractor." With that said, the genie stood up, dusting off some non-existent dust on her weird clothing before picking up some _golden _thing from the stone floor. The thing looked like an old-fashioned teapot—or an oil lamp—with gold coloring, smooth and unblemished surface and quite possibly made from gold. Consider the state of this cavern, the lamp-thingy being made from gold actually made sense.

The offputtingly beautiful woman walked to Fabia's location, expertly and gracefully dodging every single piece of gold and diamond in her path. It almost looked like she was walking on thin air—oh, wait. Her feet didn't touch the cavern floor at all.

A pregnant pause went through her brain. Then the true implications of that hit her hard between her eyes.

S_he really is walking on air oh my god_, her mind stuttered. Fabia was pretty sure she had a stupefied look on her face right then, _because it is just impossible._

She-who-just-walked-on-air stopped in front of Fabia, lips curled in a gentle smile down at her and hands outstretched to hand her the gold lamp. The young princess brought her shaking hands up to receive it, fingers lightly touching the _magical being's_ smooth ones. The lamp felt warm in her palms, contrary to its cold metallic look, and hummed with some kind of energy. This close to the _magical_ artifact, Fabia could see some sort of purplish smoke coming out of the lamp and curling around the woman's figure, twisting and fading through her body like some kind of ethereal cape. Or like a hydra coiling its heads around its owner.

Either way, it didn't matter; if what the genie said was true _(of course it's true she just proved to you she had magic!)_ then the lamp was her weakness. However dangerous this woman might be, as long as Fabia hold onto this lamp she would follow her wishes.

'No, only three wishes,' she mentally corrected herself. The genie did explain to her that part in great details—like _you only have three wish, you can wish for everything but of course, no reviving the dead, no world domination and no wishing for more wishes_—and Fabia wouldn't waste her wishes on those issues anyway, there were more pressing matters at hand. Like getting out of this place, getting her bearing back and the genie _who just picked her up bridal style. _The lamp in her hands vibrated with intensity during Fabia's frantic grapple after being picked up abruptly like that. It glowed, before morphing itself into a golden band strapping on her wrist, light-weight and hot to the touch.

"Whoa—" The princess squeaked, surprised by her sudden weightlessness. She didn't think those slender arms could pick up a kid, let alone a 172-centimeter tall buff princess in her light armor. _Magic, _it must had been.

But that didn't change the fact her face heated up luminously and her arms automatically winded around the genie's pale neck, right over the shining platinum choker. The pair of delicate hands were firmly holding onto her forearm and underneath her knees, the stylized bands on her wrists crushed uncomfortably against the princess' clothing. She looked up at the magical being, affronted and flustered and readied to demand for her feet to touch the ground when they both lifted up, starting to ascend for the cavern's ceiling. Fabia clung tighter.

"We, we are not going to smash through the cave, right?"

"No, we are not. You just need to trust me to carry you out safely, that's all."

"That's not reassuring to hear, _genie._ What if you drop me?"

"I won't. You are, after all, my contractor."

All conversation between the two of them stopped as the rock ceiling came into view. This close to the stone surface, Fabia could see the autofluorescence moss that covered it and lighting up the cavern in their weird green light. She shuddered, tighten her grip even further; suddenly this cave gave her the creeps, with greenish lights and golden shine of cold, unused treasures. She couldn't wait to get out of this place.

An indigo glow started to cover the both of them, engulfed Fabia in its warmth. The young princess hesitantly loosened one of her hand to swipe through the glow, feeling the weird air-like texture the same as the chains the genie who was holding her had used to restrained her fists.

"At least it has some colors in it now," she sniffed, affronted from remembering the fail attempt. The commander turned her glare onto the genie:

"Never restrain me with those formless chains again, you hear me?"

Another small smile formed on the beautiful woman's lips.

"And let you punch me?" Fabia could see the laughter in those chocolate eyes. She blushed, embarrassed at her violent reaction. But, to be fair, she just survived a full band of raiders and was in fight-or-flight mode—no one could truly hold the princess accountable for her over-reaction.

She snarked back, "Well, aren't you supposed to be a high and mighty magical being? What, can't take a punch?"

"Just because I can doesn't mean I should, hm?"

"YOU—"

The indigo glowed brighter, lighting up the upper parts of the cavern and bathing everything in a purple haze. Fabia squeezed her eyes shut. The genie grinned and both of them disappeared.

* * *

When Fabia reopened her eyes, she was among stars and clouds.

The wind rushed against her body, but the princess who was still cradled in the genie's embrace felt nothing but warmth and wonder at the sky over her. She had only ever seen the starry sky through the glass windows of aircrafts, combat fighters and her specialized goggles whenever she was on a mission. But, this time…

This time, High Princess Fabia Sheen saw the sky without a layer of glass between them. Her free hand raised up to run through some clouds that passed near them, the moist air pleasant on her healed fingertips and she curled her fist before bringing it up to her face, furtively trying to capture a cloud. The lingering cool mist ran over her, refreshing the warrior princess and clearing her mind. She laughed out loud, delight and full of wonder.

"This is, this is—I, I can't believe it!" Fabia smiled up at the genie, breathless and elated at the natural wonder she was experiencing, made possible by the woman holding her.

The pretty woman was smiling softly down at her, and the princess' breath caught sharply.

Underneath the stars of the evening sky, the genie's hair was not that same mix of green, gold, red anymore. Her hair was of red-and-orange sunset, curly and long past her shoulder and soft to the touch. The deep chocolate eyes, if possible, twinkled even more like there were stars inside them, forming infinite galaxies and constellations. The pink lips grinned wider revealing pearly white teeth, her nose crinkled a bit at Fabia's apparent happiness. The high cheeks blushed lightly at her stare and the jewels of her previously-thought-to-be-unadorned circlet caught the light of the stars, shining in different colors of the rainbow.

"Does this satisfy your, um, magical proof requirement, my honorable contractor?"

Fabia shook her head wildly to get rid of the dumbfounded look on her face before rapidly nodding, afraid that the beauty would take her actions wrongly. "Yes, I believe you now," she added, for good measure.

To tell the truth, Fabia had believed her the moment the genie started to walk on air, but only now did the whole 'magic is real' thing truly registered, with an act such as breathing so high in the atmosphere without protective gear. Her brain started rummaging, the trained-since-birth politician inside her clammed its jaw down on the war prospect and how everything would change should _(once)_ the genie become widely known.

However, right now she thought she could be forgiven for putting aside any rumination regarding modern time and ancient magic out of her mind.

After all, she just escaped death this afternoon, a _reallybeautifulmagical_ woman was holding her high up in the sky—so high up Fabia could see every star that regularly couldn't be seen because of air pollution, and _she could go home to her sister now._

_No, she can end the war right now. She can wish for it. The wish is in-line with the genie's warnings._

"Three wishes, right, genie? I can wish for anything as long as it's not world-domination, reviving the dead and more wishes?"

The woman blinked as if startled by Fabia's abrupt change of attitude, before giving a quiet _yes_ back. The princess pursed her lips, mentally thinking up ways to phrase her wish without it backfiring on her, or her country for that matter.

The genie was kind enough to advise her to think carefully, after all. She had told Fabia stories of wishes that gone awry, made by greedy and hasty people. The cavern treasures were the most glaring example of how a pirate had let his greed clouded his mind and wished for enough treasure to sink the entirety of Gundalian Navy down the ocean. The treasures he asked for drowned him instead; it was an instant death.

_Well, no use mulling over something we could comprehend,_ her mind whispered, resigned over the fact that the young royal knew nothing about magic. _Let's ask her directly._

"Hey, can you stop a war?"

The beautiful eyes widen before glancing around the sky, the wind ruffled her hair at every turn. She looked like a scholar then, slowly contemplating the idea of stopping a war in her mind before giving her a definite answer. Honestly, the commander couldn't blame her for thinking deeply about this matter since that wish was big in magnitude, both physically and mentally. Stopping a whole war, Fabia knew, involved a lot of things: first and foremost, bringing the fighting to a close, then negotiations and peace talks between countries would start which may or may not be hampered by some warmongering factors, after that it would be time for rebuilding the country, reinforce the people's trust in the government, keeping the economy stable to push for outside investment…

Also, an explanation must be given to the public, since the war didn't stop in the normal way a la one side winning—but by magic, something thought to be nonexistent in this world. Even if the general public accepted that magic was real, there was no guarantee about that greedy Emperor not waging another war just to get his hands on the lamp—and subsequently the genie. In fact, he did send scouts here, but there was no confirmation whether Barodius knew about this magical being. If he got his hands on the lamp…

_If he got his grubby hands on the genie, then…_

Fabia didn't dare to entertain the possibility. It was too horrifying in her mind.

That meant she couldn't let the genie be discovered, for everyone's safety.

_Which means that we have to plan this carefully, _her overworked brain cautioned.

She couldn't wish for the war to abruptly end, but she could split her wishes into crucial movements that push Neathia into victory. That may sounded a bit dirty, but right now Fabia was out of options. This was the only way.

(Beside, she did plan to _play a bit_ dirty after getting back from the island. She just didn't think that her solution would come in this form.)

"Hey, genie," she asked the woman cradling her close, buying time for her brain to work up an efficient wish-route.

"Yes?" _Oh but dear God, the genie was so adorable!_

"If you can grant yourself one wish, what would you wish for?"

"What brought this on, my honorable contractor? Is it because I was slow in answering your query?" The bright-eyed woman was looking at her now, red eyebrows gently furrowed.

"No, I was just curious. Everyone—no matter who they are—have a wish deep in their heart, you know?" Fabia softly rebutted, sensing the woman's genuine concern. And, "stop calling me your contractor. I have a name, call me by my name please."

"But you _are_ my contractor—"

Fabia clicked her tongue, "I may be your contractor, but that doesn't mean you should always refer to me like that. It's too polite."

To tell the truth, being referred to as 'honorable contractor' was making her really uncomfortable. Even though she was a princess and was called 'princess', 'High Princess', 'commander' on a regular basis—hearing this powerful being referred to her as 'contractor' really didn't sit well with Fabia. She wanted to hear her name being called from those lips in that mesmerizing voice.

And it wasn't like the genie didn't know her name; she did call out for her during the princess' bluff. How the beautiful woman knew her name in the first place, Fabia didn't know—but she assumed some magic was at work there.

"Being polite to contractors is what a genie like me should be doing," the red eyelashes lowered, temporarily hiding the deep chocolate eyes from Fabia's view. "But if you are uncomfortable with it then…"

The too-pretty-for-her-own-good being trailed off before opened her eyes once again, looking down at the princess in her arms. She looked hesitant then, lips not smiling and eyes stared right into Fabia's own.

"…Then?" She gently inquired.

"Then please permit me the use of your name."

'Such earnest eyes gazing at me now', she bit her lips, flustered at the attention. Fabia gathered the rest of her tattered composure, somehow managed to reply in a calm voice:

"Yes. From now on please call me by my name, okay?"

A sudden idea hit and a small grin appeared on the royal's face. She curled her hand on the genie's neck tighter and raised her free hand up, palm flat and faced forward. A handshake.

"Let's shake hands and reintroduce ourselves. I don't think we got off the right foot an hour ago, hm?"

The magical entity let out a giggle, deep eyes shining with genuine mirth. Fabia laughed alongside her, delighted by the girlish sound and open look on her face.

"I am Fabia Sheen, High Princess of the Dominion of Neathia. Please just call me Fabia." The High Princess waved her hand close to the attractive face, grinning widely all the while, "Nice to meet you."

"You are a princess but—" The genie giggled once more, shaking her head and sending curling locks of red flying in the wind. She then tilted her face down Fabia's, smiling softly.

"Very well." The same formless indigo glow that enveloped them both back in the cavern now condensed into… _something_ that supported her legs, freeing one of the entity's hand. That same hand now gripped hers in a firm handshake, the long fingers ran over hers with one gentle caress.

"I am the genie that shall make your deepest wishes come true. I am Alice."

Fabia shuddered, feeling the power in that declaration. She squeezed _Alice_'s hand tightly, the entity's name a deep echo down to her soul.

Alice slowly grinned, radiant and powerful and attractive to the princess' sense, "Nice to meet you too, Fabia."


End file.
